Yeast cultures

[BjornBee]

My first batch was with champayne red star dry yeast. I'll assume that this will be on the dry side as this seems to be the educated consensus.

I also have sweet mead wine yeast, white labs, #WLP720. So my next batch tomorrow will have this.

I've read that adding honey, sweetening later after racking, and the flexibilty you have with mead, allows much manipulation. But I'd like to get the mead to where I would like, without much of the after the fact manipulations. If this is even possible.

So what yeast are you using? Which for medium, or sweet?

[Tim Hall]

I just finished my first batch using wild yeasts. I had intended for it to be a dry mead, but it turned out quite sweet. That wasn't all that bad though since I think it also picked up some acid-fermenting bacteria in the spontaneous action...turned out to have a nice acidity to balance out the sweetness. Sorta appley, malic-acid tasting. Not the most sophisticated drink, but definitely drinkable.

[Andrew@ThreeElms]

I've been using Lalvin's yeast. They are popular for mead making, and seem to do a nice job. Both 71b, and D-42, but I have K1V and EC-1118 but haven't used them yetp.

Careful with the white labs sweat mead, some people have reported problems, stuck fermentations and stressed yeasties. Make sure to google it well.

[Aspera]

All of the above yeasts are very good but KV1, 1118, and D47 ferment fairly dry. KV1 has very high attenuation and makes ample fusels/off flavors in young sweet meads. These will age out rapidly. D47/1118 can be used together for something that tastes like d47 but carbonates better and stabilized better. For a a sweet mead I highly recommend the Chico ale yeast strain popularized by Sierra Nevada Brewing. Wyeast sweet mead strain is also OK if nutrients and racking are carefully controlled. An O.G. of 1.090 is a good starting point (at 65 F).